INTERPOL Washington

Justice News

Department of Justice

INTERPOL Washington

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Accused Computer Hacker Returned to United States to Appear in U.S. Court

An accused computer hacker sought by the United States was recently returned to the United States to stand trial. On March 30, 2018, Yevgeniy Aleksandrovich Nikulin, 30, of Moscow, Russia, made his initial appearance in federal court, following his extradition from the Czech Republic. He was charged by the United States in 2016 with illegally accessing computers belonging to LinkedIn, Dropbox, and Formspring. Nikulin was arrested in October 2016, pursuant to a U.S.-issued INTERPOL Red Notice processed by INTERPOL Washington—the U.S. National Central Bureau. He had been in the custody of the Czech Republic since then. The United States submitted an official request to the Czech government for his extradition in November 2016. On March 29, 2018, the Minister of Justice of the Czech Republic ordered Nikulin extradited to the United States. Read more about the Federal case against Nikulin here:

The INTERPOL Red Notice

Each INTERPOL member country maintains a National Central Bureau (NCB) staffed by its own highly trained law enforcement officials.

An INTERPOL Red Notice is a request to locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition. It is issued by the INTERPOL General Secretariat at the request of a member country’s NCB or an international tribunal based on a valid national arrest warrant. It is not an international arrest warrant.

INTERPOL cannot compel any member country to arrest an individual who is the subject of a Red Notice. Each member country decides for itself what legal value to give a Red Notice within their borders.

When INTERPOL publishes a Red Notice this is simply to inform all member countries that the person is wanted based on an arrest warrant or equivalent judicial decision issued by a country or an international tribunal. INTERPOL does not issue arrest warrants.